The
last verses of chapter ten reads like this.
Daniel 10:20-21 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. [21] But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
The
angel with the message is speaking to Daniel. We should then read verse one
of chapter eleven as a continuation of
chapter ten.
Daniel
11:1 Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and
to strengthen him.
It
would appear that the angel in the first year of Darius had helped Michael the
archangel in another of these spiritual battles. Do you remember what happened
in the first year of Darius?
Daniel
6:7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the
counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal
statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any
God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den
of lions.
Satan
was trying to turn the king from the people of God but there was a heavenly
battle. Praise God for his holy angels
and their activity. Daniel’s prayers
were being answered.
Daniel
6:22 My God hath sent his angel, and
hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before
him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no
hurt.
What
was the outcome? Was the king turned
against the God of Daniel?
Daniel
6:26-28 I make a decree, That in every
dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is
the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. [27] He delivereth and
rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath
delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. [28] So this Daniel prospered in
the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Once
again we see that the battle is not against flesh and blood.
Daniel
was still at odds about the future. The
seventy-year captivity should have ended but Israel was to the large extent
still in Babylon. Things didn’t seem to
be getting any better. What was the
future for Israel? His answer had arrived let’s look at verse two.
Daniel
11:2 “And now will I shew thee the truth.”
Isn’t it good to get to the truth? We have in these thirty five verses some of the most complex and detailed prophecies you will find anywhere in the Bible. In fact there are one hundred and thirty five prophecies in these thirty-five verses. They should not however bore us. They should amaze us as we consider again the accuracy of the word of God. These first thirty-five verses are now history.
This
may not be the most exciting portion of scripture but let’s keep our eyes in
God’s word and wonder at the inspired book we have. Again the critics as they
looked at this passage said because of the accuracy of the prophecies that it
must be a fake. On the same hand they
will claim that there are discrepancies and it must be a fake. They want it both ways they just cannot
believe in a sovereign, omniscient God.
The
revelation of troubled times.
Daniel
11:2And now will I shew thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three
kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his
strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia.
From
the position where Daniel stood at that time there would be three kings in
Persia. Then a fourth who would attack
Greece.
These
four kings are identified as Cambyses [529-522 BC] Psueda Smernis [522-521 BC]
Darius Hystapes [521 – 468 BC] and then Xerxes
[486 – 485 BC].
History
tells us that Xerxes was a man of great wealth and with three million men he
turned against Greece. We mentioned this when we looked at chapt eight.
Remember when Alexander the Great attacked the Persian Empire what we
read.
Daniel
8:6 And he came to the ram that had
two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the
fury of his power.
One
hundred and fifty years later Alexander the Great got the revenge that the
Greeks desired. This prophecy takes us
next to Alexander the Great. This is the history of the time between the old
and new testaments. Malachi ends with
Persia and Matthew opens with the Roman Empire. This is the history of the so-called silent four hundred years.
Daniel
11:3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and
do according to his will.
This mighty king
who will stand up against the Persian Empire is Alexander the Great. A man of great dominion, a man who ruled the
world note it says, “Do according to
his will.” He wept when he conquered the world because he had no more worlds to
conquer.
Daniel
11:4 And when he shall stand up, his
kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven;
and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his
kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.
“And when he shall
stand up,” while he was growing strong his kingdom shall be broken. As a young man of thirty two he died we have
covered this in Daniel chapter eight.
What wonderful books if only the critics would bow at the confirmation
of a God who is omniscient rather that criticise such a book.
We are told what happened Alexander’s kingdom again. Four generals took over after his death, none of which were related to the king. In fact Alexander’s mentally retarded half brother, his illegitimate child and his baby were all murdered. This was written about 539 BC and fulfilled about 323 BC.
We
are moving down thorough the centuries here very quickly. Two of these rulers
now come into focus. Seleucus1 Nicator of Syria which is north of Israel, and
Ptolemy 1 Soter of Egypt which is south of Israel. They are called the king of the north and the king of the south.
From verse five to twenty we read about two hundred years of conflict involving
nations to the North and South of Israel.
Daniel
11:5 And the king of the south shall
be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have
dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.
The kings of the
north and south would continually battle throughout this period. However in
verse six there is an attempt at peace.
Daniel
11:6 And in the end of years they
shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come
to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the
power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given
up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened
her in these times.
But as verse six shows the plan didn’t work.
“But she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his
arm.” Their plan didn’t work as neither
retained their power.
“But
she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he
that strengthened her in these times.”
After a few years when the king of the south Ptolemy II Philadelphus
died, Antiochus II Theos got rid of his wife and took back his first wife
Laodiceia
Laodiceia took revenge on Berenice, her servants and her husband. They were all killed. Laodiceia’s son Seleucus Callinicus [247-226 BC] became king of the north.
Daniel
11:7 But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate, which
shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the
north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail:
The
“her” spoken off here is the murdered Berenice. The king of the south Ptolemy
II Euergetes [246-221 BC] who was Berenice’s brother marched against the north
and was victorious.
Daniel
11:8 And shall also carry captives into Egypt their gods, with their princes,
and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue
more years than the king of the north.
You can see the
north and south at war and Israel stuck in the middle. Daniel would know that there were troubled
times ahead for Israel.
Daniel
11:9 So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return
into his own land.
Seleucus
Callinicus was
defeated and his sons come to the fore in verse ten.
Daniel
11:10 But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great
forces: and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through: then
shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress.
We
are now back with the king of the north that is Syria. His two sons assemble a
great army to attack Egypt. Seleucus
III [ 226-223 BC] and Antiochus III the Great. Seleucus died, so when verse ten
says, “ One shall certainly come,”
This
applies to Antiochus III the Great.
Antiochus III the
Great became king of the north and marched through Israel with seventy five
thousand men. He was heading towards Egypt.
Look at verses eleven and twelve.
Daniel
11:11-12 And the king of the south
shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with
the king of the north: and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the
multitude shall be given into his hand. [12] And when he hath taken away the
multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten
thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it.
The
king of the south, Ptolemy IV Philopater raised an army of seventy thousand
infantry and five thousand cavalry. The
king of the south was victorious, Syria was beaten. Ptolemy IV Philopater, the
king of the south didn’t profit from his victory. Pride seems to have got the better of him. He controlled
Palestine at this time.
Antiochus
III the Great turned his attention
eastward. He was quite successful and
assembled some wealth and strength. Thirteen years later he heads back south
again. As we can see from verse thirteen.
Daniel 11:13 For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.
Daniel
11:14 And in those times there shall
many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people
shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall.
“The robbers of thy people,” refers to some Jews who will join with Antiochus thinking that this would set them free from the southern domination. All they were doing was giving Syria a grip on Israel something they would regret. We are told that they, “establish the vision.” This probably refers to Chapter eight and Antiochus Epiphanes. Look now at verse fifteen.
Daniel
11:15 So the king of the north shall
come, and cast up a mount, and take the most fenced cities: and the arms of the
south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be
any strength to withstand.
In
199 BC Antiochus the great routed the south.
Daniel
11:16 But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and
none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by
his hand shall be consumed.
Now Antiochus the
Great controls
the glorious land. The mercenaries were
well looked after but they were disappointed that their land was not set free.
Antiochus
The Great, aware of the Roman threat that was rising thought it good to settle
things between himself and Egypt. We
can see his plan in verse seventeen.
Daniel
11:17 He shall also set his face to
enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus
shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her: but
she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him.
The
king of Egypt was now Ptolemy V Ephiphanes. He was just a boy of four when he
became king. Antiochus the Great decided to give his daughter in marriage to
this king. He gives his daughter Cleopatra to the boy king. He was possibly
only ten when they married. We can see the King’s plan in verse seventeen,
“hoping to corrupt her,” he wanted her to act as a spy for him.
Daniel
11:17 “Corrupting her: but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for
him.”
She
fell in love with the king and stood by her man. Antiochus the Great, now turns
his attention elsewhere as we can see from verse eighteen.
Daniel
11:18 After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many:
but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease;
without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him.
Antiochus
the Great turns towards the Mediterranean islands and Greece, but the Romans
defeat him in 191 BC and he has to return to his own land.
Daniel
11:19 Then he shall turn his face
toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be
found.
Daniel
11:20 Then shall stand up in his
estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he
shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.
Due to the defeat
by the Romans, The Romans levied the Syrians one thousand talents annually. In
order to raise this money Seleucus 1V Philopator raised taxes. He employed a tax collector called
Heliodorus to take taxes from the Jews and even to plunder the temple.
It
was said that soon after Heliodorus was dispatched to plunder the temple Seleucus 1V Philopator was suddenly
and mysteriously removed. It is
believed he was poisoned by his helper Heliodorus that explains the statement, “ within a few days and it wasn’t in
anger or battle.”
That
brings us to another important point in this prophecy. We are thinking of the Revelation of
troubled times. Soon Israel would
really feel the weight of these wars through the next ruler.
Daniel
11:21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not
give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the
kingdom by flatteries.
This
vile person is the little horn of Daniel chapter eight. Antiochus Epiphanes who we described as a
type of the Antichrist. He would afflict terrible hardship on the Jewish
people. As the verse reveals he didn’t deserve the kingdom. He obtained it by
flattery and deceit.
Daniel
11:22 And with the arms of a flood
shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the
prince of the covenant.
He
will win many victories against his enemies and he will even destroy the price
of the covenant. History tells of the
high priest of Israel Onias who on the orders of Antiochus Epiphanes was murdered
in 172 BC.
Daniel
11:23-24 And after the league made
with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become
strong with a small people. [24] He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest
places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done,
nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and
riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even
for a time.
Antiochus
Epiphanes will behave like a Robin Hood character robbing the rich and giving
to the poor. That way the rich would be
powerless to revolt and the poor would be on his side. He will make and break
agreements according to verse twenty-three. He was a deceitful, dishonest and
dark character, a type of Satan’s superman.
Daniel
11:25-26 And he shall stir up his
power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the
king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty
army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him. [26]
Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army
shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.
The
boy king of the South will not have a chance; even some of his own people will
plot against him. In verse twenty-seven the two kings sit down to thrash out an
agreement.
Daniel
11:27 And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall
speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at
the time appointed.
They
can talk, lie, cheat and con but God is still on the throne as it is written,
“for the end shall be at the time appointed.”
Daniel
11:28 Then shall he return into his
land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and
he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.
On
the way home from Egypt Antiochus Epiphanes turns against Israel. Perhaps annoyed that all didn’t go his way
because Rome had scared him of from Egypt.
Daniel
11:29 At the time appointed he shall
return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the
latter.
Antiochus
Epiphanes returns to fight the south again but this time things are different
according to verse twenty nine. Look now at verse thirty.
Daniel
11:30 For the ships of Chittim shall
come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have
indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return,
and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.
The ships of
Chittim are a reference to the Roman ships.
They supported Egypt and Antiochus Epiphanes was driven back. It is said
that a Roman consul called, Gaius Popilus Laenus is supposed to have drawn a
circle round Antiochus Epiphanes and said,
“Make your mind up before you step outside this circle. Are you going to
attack?” He had to concede Egypt to Roman power.
Antiochus
Epiphanes returns with his tail
between his legs and turns against Israel. According to the end of verse thirty
some Jews will side with him.
Daniel
11:31 And arms shall stand on his part,
and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily
sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
Antiochus
Epiphanes placed guards around the
temple to prevent worship. On a particular Sabbath he ordered women and
children to be slaughtered. All sorts of vile practises occurred and a pig was
offered in the temple. History records that forty thousand Jews were slaughtered
on one occasion and forty thousand were sold as slaves.
Daniel
11:32 And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by
flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do
exploits.
Some
of the Jews will turn others will take their stand against him.
Daniel
11:33 And they that understand among
the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame,
by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
You
can see that there were terrible times ahead for Israel and indeed they really
suffered during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.
Daniel
11:34 Now when they shall fall, they
shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with
flatteries.
There
will always be a little help but some will only take their stand when it suits
them. I haven’t gone into the details of this terrible time which prefigures
the time of the end but certainly
Daniel had revealed troubled times.
Response in troubled times.
Daniel 11:32 but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Among
the Jews was one man called Mattiahs Maccabess he and his sons refused to
defile the temple. They killed the messenger of Antiochus Epiphanes and
fled. They started a revolt against the
Syrians a revolt that succeeded under Judas Maccabees. How were they able to stand in such troubled
times?
How
can we stand in troubled times?
“The
people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”
We must know God by spending time with him. We need to listen, speak and observe him. Knowing God makes us strong. We must know God then we will be strong and we will do exploits. If you want to be able to stand when trouble comes make sure you really know God and you will be strong and will do exploits.
The
reason for Troubled times.
There
can be many reasons let’s just highlight one. Look at verse thirty five.
Daniel
11:35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge,
and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a
time appointed.
Look
at the reasons for trials. To try them, purge them and make them white. The
Lord wants to make us more like him. Notice that the story doesn’t end until
the time of the end. Israel shall be saved and our next study will take us,
“Back to the future.”